The first Director of Public Works was Francis Alfred Cooper, from 1891 to 1897.

The Architectural Office existed by 1939, and following the disruption in operations during the Japanese occupation, the unit was kept busy in the postwar years by rebuilding work.

[1] During the 1960s the Architectural Office was heavily involved in the resettlement housing programmes, but these duties were divested to the Hong Kong Housing Authority upon its 1973 establishment.

The Works Branch in the ETWB and in the DevB is headed by its own permanent secretary, a civil servant from one of the engineering grades.

This article about the three branches of government in Hong Kong is a stub.